From Models to Research Cruises, an exciting journey: Eggs and larvae finding their way through the Baltic Sea!

Hello blog readers, It’s another exciting day aboard the ALKOR630 cruise! The sun is rising, and the bongo nets and water samplers are ready to go. Greetings from Station BB23—one of the most sampled and ecologically important hotspots for phytoplankton, copepods, and fish eggs/larvae. Today, we’re exploring a technique called Lagrangian particle tracking (LPT)—a powerful method for tracing the path of a water parcel in […]

AL630 successfully completed, but…

Hi readers, We have successfully completed cruise AL630 on April 16, 2025. After one day without work due to strong northwesterly winds 7-8 Beaufort, during which we entered Rönne harbor on Bornholm Island, the last 5 days of the cruise were packed with work, running continuously in 24-operations in shift work. We therefore were not […]

from Ocean Voices Blog

The Challenger Expedition – Marine Research then and now

Last month 150 years ago, on the 23rd of March 1875, the participants of the Challenger expedition plumbed out the deepest point of the Earth, which is now called the Challenger Deep in their honour. This expedition was different from previous endeavours, as scientific exploration was its primary objective, not just a useful side-quest to […]

from Cape Verde Blog

A Journey of Dreams, Science and Courage

Menschen schauen in die Kamera, eine Person hält ein Fernglas, Schiff im Hintergrund

I’m a dreamer. One of those who believe that life makes sense when lived with intensity, emotion and a touch of adrenaline. Ever since I was a child, I’ve always wanted to discover the world, travel to unknown places and, above all, do science that could transform realities. When the opportunity arose to embark on […]

AL630 now posting from the Baltic Sea!

Hello from Bornholm Basin in the central Baltic Sea! With a team of 12 scientists and 11 permanent crew, we are currently operating in Baltic waters (see Figure 1) with research vessel Alkor to improve understanding of this beautiful but also heavily impacted and rapidly changing system. For this purpose, we measure physical parameters (temperature, […]

from Cape Verde Blog

Stowaways!

Pigeon on the railing, ocean in the background

Flap! Flap! Coo…. These pigeon noises, perfectly normal in any congested city, are entirely unexpected here. We are sailing through the eastern tropical North Atlantic on the German icebreaker POLARSTERN that is our home for two weeks. Water to the horizon in all directions and then… a pigeon! A quick look to portside solves the […]